This invention relates to a musical notation system, and in particular, to a notational system which eliminates dependence on using and understanding a key signature while maintaining the integrity of the key signature system.
The teaching and learning of music is a very difficult and demanding process. A student must manage the physical aspects of manipulating a particular instrument, while at the same time learn the language of music, i.e., notes, timing, phrasing, and so on.
Once the basic elements of the music language are learned, the program quickly becomes more rigorous and demanding. The pupil is exposed to sharps and flats, chords, tonics, mediants, dominants, major and minor scales, in short, the whole panoply of unfamiliar musical terminology and notation.
Thus it is little wonder that a large percentage of students of music rapidly lose their initial enthusiasm and either become recalcitrant and difficult students or, if allowed, quit altogether.
Teachers of music have long recognized the phenomenon of students becoming frustrated with the difficulty of learning the whole language of music at the same time that they are learning the physical aspects thereof. In order to ease the problem, a number of different devices have been suggested, all of which are intended to aid and facilitate the early stages of musical instruction.
Thus, for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,957 to Peirano et al. shows a flat baseboard with a number of recesses into which musical symbols are fitted. This device is intended to evoke a child's interest and reinforce his or her understanding of the time value of notes and of the scale.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,805,488 to Jolls involves a series of charts and notes which are colored to indicate the tonic, dominant, etc. The colored notes only fit in the appropriate positions of each chart. Flats and sharps are noted by the flat and sharp symbols, .music-flat. and # respectively, placed inside the colored note bases.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,803,630 to Lossie shows an educational chart for teaching musical notation and composition. The chart is of fabric placed on smooth board with a set of musical symbols which can be manipulated by the student and/or teacher. Various symbols including the sharp and flat symbols may be color coded.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,594,194 to Burgess shows a system of musical notation that uses different shaped notes for sharps and flats as well as for double-sharped and double-flatted notes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,539,308 to Faunt shows a system of musical notation in which the usual sharps, flats, etc. are represented by ovals, diamonds, and squares, solid or open, with a variety of vertical and horizontal stripes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,483,380 to Reeve shows a system of musical notation in which the usual sharps, flats, etc. are represented by solid circles, flat and tall rectangles, diamonds, and triangles.
What these inventions all have in common is an attempt to make the learning of musical notation simpler and more attractive to the beginning, especially the younger student. However while any of these inventions may simplify or make more attractive the learning of the very complex art of musical notation, none of these inventions makes the musical notation itself easier to understand and follow.
Furthermore, in all the prior art inventions, time is still required to learn the complexities of notation at the expense of actually practicing the musical instrument.
In addition, in the prior art inventions consisting of devices, the devices themselves, simple or complex, are relatively cumbersome, especially when compared with a simple sheet of music paper, and cannot be given by the teacher to a student without depriving the teacher and his or her other students of their use.
A special notational problem arises with respect to the conventional representation of sharps and flats on sheet music. The former are designated by the symbol `#`, and the latter by the symbol `.music-flat.`. This representation is simple to understand when the musical key involved is C with no sharps or flats. However when playing in F sharp major with six sharps, or G flat major with six flats, for example, displaying all the sharps and flats associated with each and every note leads to a cluttered and unreadable score.
Hence, by convention, the key signature is presented at the beginning of a line or piece of music, and the musician is expected thereafter to know which notes are normally sharp or flat as the case may be. This is not a simple process. Upon encountering each note, the musician must make a mental determination as to whether the note should be played as it appears to read, as has been ingrained in the musician throughout a considerable period of instructional time, or whether the note should be translated into a sharp or flat as required by the musical key. This task is further complicated by the ability of the composer to add sharps or flats effective only within a single measure which run counter to the key signature. It is not a coincidence that many students of music quit at about the time that they are introduced to the playing of compositions in musical keys having three or more sharps and flats.
However, using a system of musical notation that entirely eliminates and does not teach key signatures leads to students who are unable to play a vast array of music already created by various talented and gifted composers.
The difficulty of this translation process for increasingly more complex musical keys also places unnatural constraints on the way that music is taught. In the case of keyboard instruments, in particular, the natural uneven structure of the human hand lends itself to using a fair number of black keys, i.e., sharps and flats. However, because of the mental stress of working in musical keys that use many black keys, the first year or two of keyboard work is primarily done using few sharps and flats, such as the key of G or the key of C. Thus the initial exposure of students to the keyboard is not physically comfortable, requiring more instructional and practice time before the student develops a comfortable feel for the keyboard.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a new method of notation which is consistent, easy for the student to learn and use, and easy for the instructor to teach while being inexpensive, portable, convenient, and affirming for students and musicians alike.